Jul. 15, 2013
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Gerald Ford with predecessor Richard Nixon. / AFP/Getty Images

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

The weekend saw a presidential centennial, the 100th birthday of Gerald Ford - a leader who has come to personify the term "average."

President Ford, who lived in the White House from 1974 to early 1977, moved the nation past the trauma of Watergate, and recent polls show that Americans remember him as neither a good nor a bad president. Just average.

The Pew Research Center cited a 2012 Gallup Poll in which 54% of respondents said Ford would be remembered as an "average" president. That's a full 10 points higher than the next most "average" president, George H.W. Bush.

In that survey, 21% said Ford would be remembered as an "outstanding or above average" president, while 19% said he would be rated "below average or poor."

"These so-so assessments make Ford stand out in comparison with the seven other recent presidents evaluated in the same survey, each of whom attracted stronger feelings either pro or con," Pew reported.

One main reason: Ford was very much an accidental president. Predecessor Richard Nixon plucked him from his Republican leadership position in the House to be vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973.

Ford ascended to the presidency when Nixon himself resigned in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.

"A 2011 Pew Research poll asked adults to name the person who had done the best job as president over their lifetime.

Less than 1% of adults named Ford, even when limited to those who were 18 or older during his presidency. No other president who had served since Herbert Hoover received fewer mentions (Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan topped the list at 34% and 25%, respectively)."